Plant could be first to discharge treated wastewater into Susquehanna

By Rachel Morgan Shalereporter.com

Saturday

Apr 27, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 27, 2013 at 10:30 PM

STANDING STONE TWP., Pa. — Eureka Resources’ proposed plant in Bradford County could discharge up to 210,000 gallons of treated fracking wastewater a day into the Susquehanna River if its permit should be approved.

It would be the first treatment facility in the state to do so, officials say.

But Eureka officials say discharge is their last resort for the water, favoring industry reuse over treating and discharge.

“I don’t think we’ll ever discharge that much,” said Dan Ertel, Eureka’s chief executive officer. “The important thing here is that we would only discharge the water if we absolutely can’t do anything else with it.”

While Ertel confirms that the plant would be permitted to discharge up to 210,000 gallons per day, he says that discharge is their “last choice.”

When asked how the plant would treat the brine for heavy salts — one of the prominent characteristics of fracking wastewater — Ertel put it simply: “That’s why the plant cost $16.5 million.”

He said the plant has a state-of-the-art crystallizing system that will take the concentrated brine and treat it via mechanical vapor recompression. Evaporation will take place, he said, and the byproduct of that process is salt, which will drop out of the water as it evaporates as a solid. The sodium chloride — along with calcium chloride, another byproduct — can then be reused for purposes such as road de-icing, Ertel said. He said the company has had preliminary talks with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to discuss this reuse.

This treatment process, Ertel said, it the most efficient technology available to deal with the high salt content of the water and costs half as much as older processes.

As for treating the water for radionuclides, an increasing concern since a 2011 U.S. Geological Survey report found high levels of radiation in fracking wastewater, Ertel said the plant is not equipped to treat the water for this — and won’t have to.

The plant will have a DEP-issued Radiation Protection Plan, Ertel said. If a load comes in with high levels of radionuclides, the DEP would take over.

DEP spokesman John Poister explained that if a load is too hot and cannot be accepted by the treatment facility, a special U.S. Department of Transportation permit has to be granted. The load can then be taken on highways back to the source where it originated or to an approved facility that can handle it safely, Poister said.

HIGH STANDARDS

While Ertel has never had an issue with radiation levels, he isn’t ruling it out.

“We haven’t seen or experienced a problem, but that’s not to say there isn’t an issue with (radionuclide levels) in other areas of the state, such as Southwest Pennsylvania,” he said.

Eureka Resources also owns and operates another water treatment plant in Williamsport, Pa. This plant does not discharge fracking wastewater directly into water sources, officials confirmed.

“Our first centralized treatment plant in Williamsport is a truly world-class facility and is the only plant that meets Pennsylvania DEP’s latest upgraded standards that enable Eureka’s ultra clean effluent to be stored and transported again as freshwater,” Ertel said, adding that Eureka is the only company that can treat and return water to the customer that is considered dewasted and can be stored and handled as such.

“We plan to bring those same high standards to the Standing Stone facility,” he added.

The new plant will be the first that will discharge directly to a stream, Ertel said, noting that all discharged water will meet DEP’s dewasting standards under the plant’s WGMR123 permit.

The plant is scheduled to open during the fourth quarter of this year, he said. “Operators pay to get water to us, pay to have us treat it.”

CALL TO ACTION

Although the state requested that the drilling industry stop delivering fracking wastewater to treatment plants that would release it into public water sources, the DEP said the Eureka plant doesn’t fall under that “call to action” because it will treat the water to meet federal drinking water standards.

Former DEP Secretary Michael Krancer urged oil and gas operators to stop sending fracking wastewater to treatment plants that weren’t designed to remove salinity, total dissolved solids or toxic ingredients, said Adam Kron, a lawyer for the Environmental Integrity Project.

Poister also said any new or expanded facility must treat the water so it meets the federal safe drinking water standard — or 500 mg/L of total dissolved solids — a regulation that took effect Aug. 15, 2010. Since this regulation only applied to facilities that applied for a new permit after that date, the old facilities were grandfathered in, he said. So, the agency decided to call on the industry to comply on its own.

“Rather than engage in contentious litigation trying to change permits that had already been issued, one of the very first actions this administration took was to call on the Marcellus industry to cease the delivery of wastewater to such facilities,” Poister said. “Simply put, as a direct result of Secretary Krancer’s call, wastewater is not being discharged from treatment plants permitted before the … regulatory change.”

The Eureka plant doesn’t fall under the secretary’s call to action, because it will treat the water to meet federal standards, experts say. The call to action was for gas operators to stop sending fracking wastewater to treatment plants that weren’t meant to handle fracking wastewater, and weren’t designed to remove salinity, total dissolved solids or toxic constituents.

“There are still some conventional well discharges that are going into waterways,” Poister said. “Those operators are under pressure from DEP now to change.”

He added other discharges, such as those from the Eureka plant, are treated and meet EPA safe drinking water standards.

But Kevin Sunday, also of the DEP, refuted this claim, saying that, “these operators are not under pressure from DEP to close.

“We will continue to monitor water quality downstream of the handful of conventional plants still accepting conventional wastewater and take any action needed to protect the state’s waterways.”

Sunday said the DEP is not aware of any unconventional wastewater being discharged into waterways from treatment plants.

Eureka, however, would change that.

EUREKA’S PROGRESS

The Eureka facility is not yet operational and has only been issued a WMGR123 permit, which does not allow for discharge, Poister noted.

This permit, however, requires the plant to monitor radiation in incoming wastewater and outgoing sludge loads, he said.

“While this facility has not yet been issued their NPDES permit, they are proposing to discharge distilled water after the contaminants have been removed,” Poister said. “If we approve their permit, we will have in place limits to protect water quality.”

Eureka applied for the permit in February, company officials said.

Sunday said should the DEP permit this facility, there will be discharge limits for various pollutants and water quality, such as pH and various metals. But this early in the process, the agency can’t give details on the parameters.

The second phase of construction, which would move forward in 2014, is contingent on both the DEP and other permits. The DEP has not yet begun the review of Eureka’s permit application, Poister said.

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